Hkk 234||
...布政司署
CONFIDENTIAL
BY BAG
32
GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT
LOWER ALBERT ROAD
HONG KONG
香港下埡厘 畢
**K QUE REF.+
No
$59) in CR 14/5091/77 II
27/7
來函檔號 YOUR REFin.
Dear
12th July 1979
Ms will
R&R
M W
30
Thank you for your letter of 28 June about the
proposed contributory social insurance scheme. Eric Ho is at present in England on leave, but I am sure that the information provided by Strachan Heppell covers his point: it seems likely that Eric's impression (which I believe may have been the result of a casual conversation) arose from a confusion between 18% and 80%.
With regard to the point in the third paragraph of Strachan Heppell's letter, it has always been accepted in our discussions on this subject that the present public assistance scheme, paid for out of general revenue, can only meet the needs of the poorest sector of the community, and that any scheme which provided benefits for people above this level would have to be financed in some other way. The contributory scheme proposed in the 1977 Green Paper was seen as one way of doing this, but as the Governor explained in his letter of 1 November 1978 there are very serious difficulties, both practical and political, inherent in such a scheme, be it voluntary or compulsory.
The
We are therefore pursuing the various possibilities mentioned in paragraph 11 of the Governor's letter, in particular the idea of extended sickness benefit being provided by employers under the Employment Ordinance. related proposal for compulsory insurance against liability under the workmen's Compensation Ordinance has received a rather mixed reception from the employers' organisation, and it is not yet possible to say precisely when it will go ahead.
R.J.T. McLaren, Esq.,
yous
Onarı
Ihm thanku
(W. Chambers ) Secretary for Social Services
Hong Kong and General Department, Foreign & Commonwealth Office, London SW1A 2AH
CONFIDENTIAL
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.